Delivery of digital content to mobile devices over the 3G spectrum carries costs for mobile network operators, over-the-top-providers, and end users. Mobile network operators provide bandwidth for delivery of data services.
During peak times, such bandwidth may be depleted, thereby causing unintended delays in delivery and decreasing the user's quality of experience. Such delays also erode the user's quality of experience for over-the-top programming, thus eroding the user's confidence in the mobile network operator and the over-top-provider's services. Moreover, during off-peak demand times, bandwidth may go unused, and typically there is no way to recover the unused bandwidth for future use. Thus, the lost bandwidth decreases the total profits of the mobile network provider.
In view of these considerations and others, it has become readily apparent that conventional systems and methods have fallen short in providing a desirably efficient use of 3G spectrum bandwidth.